Integrated Rail Plan / Northern Powerhouse Rail

[snowball]

It's two years and five months since the publication of the IRP. Since then we've had two new prime ministers, one new monarch, the cancellation of much of what remained of HS2, and numerous other policy reversals. The Transpennine upgrade has been plodding on and serious work has got going on Huddersfield-Dewsbury.

Does anyone know whether any development work on NPR has been going on in the background during this time?

I'm not counting visible political disputes such as Andy Burnham's campaign for an underground Piccadilly.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Well I try and follow closely here from the USA and I have some "insider knowledge", but I have not heard anything.

 

[bib]

Well there's this waffley statement

Government sets out next steps on Northern Powerhouse Rail between Liverpool and Manchester

Passengers will benefit from faster journey times, more frequent rail services and better connectivity across the North.

www.gov.uk

Local leaders and MPs expressed support for Northern Powerhouse Rail to serve Warrington Bank Quay and Manchester Airport and for using broadly the previously proposed route between Liverpool and Manchester.
Taking account of local views, this will be the primary option for the next stage of development for the route between Liverpool and Manchester.

The government will continue to assess alternatives that meet the objectives of Northern Powerhouse Rail in line with standard requirements for business case approvals. Any scheme must be affordable and demonstrate value for money for the taxpayer while seeking to support the rail capacity needs of central Manchester and deliver faster journey times and better connectivity across the North.

TfN have also published a strategy doc which talks about rail amongst other things,

https://transportforthenorth.com/wp-content/uploads/STP-Transforming-the-North-2024.pdf

I imagine there was some optioneering ongoing which has probably been thrown into limbo when HS2 phase 2 got binned so they probably have to wait and see what comes out of the 'not HS2a/b alternative study' that the mayors are working on. I think the TfN funding also got axed at some point which reduced the amount of work they could actually do on NPR development.

I presume the IRP is now considered to be dead, with some of the money reallocated to 'Network North' projects and increased local transport funding.

 

[snowball]

I should have made clear in the OP that I was aware of what has been announced about Manchester-Liverpool. I take a less dim view of that than some others do, because I think it has narrowed the field of possibilities. Immediately after the PM scrapped HS2 phase 2, it was open that the Liverpool and Manchester mayors might choose a scheme completely different from the one that was being considered before, but now we seem to be back to that route.

The TfN document looks not worth the effort of reading in detail.

I was wondering more if any work had been going on on refining the proposals for Manchester to Marsden.

I presume the IRP is now considered to be dead, with some of the money reallocated to 'Network North' projects and increased local transport funding.

As far as I know a new route from Piccadilly to Marsden is still proposed?

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

Yes, via a long tunnel of some kind but this, it seems, is being left for the next Government to resolve....

 

[nr758123]

As far as I know a new route from Piccadilly to Marsden is still proposed?

It was only announced, as part of the Integrated Rail Plan (not Integrated and not a Plan), so that Grant Shapps could go on regional TV and say that high speed rail was still - just about - coming to Yorkshire. It was never a serious proposal.

 

[snowball]

At the time the IRP was published, Johnson was prime minister and Sunak was chancellor. There was reportedly a big fight between them (or their respective acolytes) about what would be in the plan, continuing right up to the evening before publication - which had already been repeatedly postponed.